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Horizon Bank, Bradenton, Florida, is the 119th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $58.9 million. Read our full coverage here.

We hope everyone will support this; read more about S372/HR1507 and send a letter (following the link below) to your representatives. Re-establishing substantive whistleblower rights is the starting point at providing even a remote chance our financial regulatory institutions will work properly. Currently, "whistleblowing" is a joke -- whistleblowers are simply ignored or sidelined using the "official" procedures, at best. At worst they may find themselves the targets of unlawful dismissal, harassment, and counter-suits... simply for doing their job (never mind the "right thing"!)

More from the Government Accountability Project...

We are nearing the end of a decade long campaign to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act. With less than 80 working days before Congress adjourns, we need your voice to ensure passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 372, H.R. 1507)...

All of the cards are stacked in our favor, but time is running out! Congress needs to hear from you -- the whistleblowers and public at large that this reform is intended to protect.

We hope everyone will support this; read more about S372/HR1507 and send a letter (following the link below) to your representatives. Re-establishing substantive whistleblower rights is the starting point at providing even a remote chance our financial regulatory institutions will work properly. Currently, "whistleblowing" is a joke -- whistleblowers are simply ignored or sidelined using the "official" procedures, at best. At worst they may find themselves the targets of unlawful dismissal, harassment, and counter-suits... simply for doing their job (never mind the "right thing"!)

More from the Government Accountability Project...

We are nearing the end of a decade long campaign to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act. With less than 80 working days before Congress adjourns, we need your voice to ensure passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (S. 372, H.R. 1507)...

All of the cards are stacked in our favor, but time is running out! Congress needs to hear from you -- the whistleblowers and public at large that this reform is intended to protect.

``Banks, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, are expanding their jumbo loan lending for several reasons. First, tightening government regulations incentivize banks to increase their bottom line. New financial reform legislation empowers the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to dismantle systemically risky institutions. Fannie and Freddie have also launched an aggressive investigation on default loans for violations and will penalize banks if they refuse to buyback faulty loans. Second, primarily due to strong credit history and high credit scores, jumbo loans have low default rates.''

"Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies."

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``... documents and interviews reveal that more than 34,000 home loans have been issued over the past two years by a dozen FHA-approved lenders that have employed people who were convicted of felonies, banned from the securities industry or previously worked for firms barred by the agency.''

``... documents and interviews reveal that more than 34,000 home loans have been issued over the past two years by a dozen FHA-approved lenders that have employed people who were convicted of felonies, banned from the securities industry or previously worked for firms barred by the agency.''

``As for the banks: they were no more clever in 2009 than they were in 2007. After the huge bounceback in bank profits (as banks scuppered up cheap assets which then appreciated), bank management assumed that happy days were there again and begin hiring. By the second quarter of 2010, banks figured out that no such rosy scenario would ensue and began laying off. Ms. Whitney’s 80,000 number is pulled out of thin air. It could easily be more. The one way that banks can make profits is to reduce compensation costs. Instead of the old 80/20 rule (80% of profits are made by 20% of bank employees), it’s more like 99/1. “All the banks need is one guy to make sure that the firehouse is attached to the pump at the Fed, and a couple of guys to point the other end into the swimming pool” of bank assets, says one senior manager. How many credit officers do you need to NOT make loans?''

"Like many financial crises of the past, this one has been plagued with high unemployment, increasing poverty, greater numbers of personal and business bankruptcies, endless foreclosures, failing businesses, and lastly an ever increasing number of bank failures. This article will focus on only one byproduct of this recession: number of bank failures. What the author has found is that a real apple to apple comparison between the two events has been obscured by misleading and incomplete information. The official total of today’s bank failures compared to the Great Depression is pegged at 5% when in reality it closer to 74%."

"The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has completed a study of IRS management of the evolving series of tax credits that were offered to homebuyers over that last two years and found that the IRS needs to "improve its capabilities to identify taxpayers who must repay tax credits for homes they purchased under the First-Time Homebuyer Credit program"

The findings also provide an unpleasant surprise for a few people who took advantage of the credit, but good news to many more."

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The grass roots of the stock market, retail investment, continues to bleed money.

In the week ended September 1, domestic equity mutual funds saw $7.5 billion in outflows: the biggest one week outflow in 2010 since the $13.4 billion redeemed in the Flash Crash week. The trend developing is simple: retail investors withdraw increasingly greater numbers in weeks in which the market is down even a little, and withdraw just a little in weeks in which the low-volume melt up presents them with an opportunity to get out at a better price level.

Small beer, but these are the sales they can get, given that China is probably ruling itself out to avoid creating a huge spike in gold "prematurely".

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it sold 10 metric tonnes of gold to the central bank of Bangladesh on Sept. 7, using Tuesday's market prices for the transaction.

The IMF said the sale raised $403 million, adding that it was part of 403.3 tonnes approved for sale by its executive board in September 2009.

The sales are part of plans adopted last year to diversify the fund's sources of income and to increase low-cost lending to poor countries by up to $17 billion through 2014.

Pegging to the US dollar creates knock-on contagion effects around the world. Hong Kong used to be a very free, healthy economy (as it was carved out of China as a "free trade zone" by the British). Unfortunately in the 80s they started pegging the HKD to the US dollar, allowing economic rot to trickle in (before then, Hong Kong had no measurable unemployment, and no inflation!)

What's going on? Hong Kong housing prices are up 45% since the start of 2009, thanks to low mortgage rates fueled by the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the U.S. dollar and ultra-low interest rates in the U.S.. Price rises are now spreading beyond the most esteemed locations, making affordability for the average Hong Konger a major concern.

On top of everything else bullish about gold, output is slipping. China has been struggling to ramp up and continually increase overall output... have they peaked? As soon as China cannot increase their gold "market-take-off" from their own domestic production any longer, that means steadily increased bidding for gold on the global market.

"Louis Spagnuolo of WCS Lending in Boca Raton answers reader questions about the housing market"

" U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded an additional $17,349,270 in funding to Colorado communities struggling to reverse the effects of the foreclosure crisis. The grants announced today represent a third round of funding through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and will provide targeted emergency assistance to help local Colorado communities acquire, redevelop or demolish foreclosed properties."

" U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded an additional $17,349,270 in funding to Colorado communities struggling to reverse the effects of the foreclosure crisis. The grants announced today represent a third round of funding through HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and will provide targeted emergency assistance to help local Colorado communities acquire, redevelop or demolish foreclosed properties."

"Monthly losses on commercial property debt bundled into bonds have doubled since April as loan specialists gave up trying to restructure smaller mortgages, Deutsche Bank AG data show."